Updates

Seasons wishes and some donkey-drawn thanks

Monday, 11 December 2017

Hello!

Since funding I have taken some time to fine-tune my manuscript before handing it over to my editor at Unbound for the first structural edit. That is due back just before Christmas when I will have the opportunity to consider all suggestions and see how I can further improve or correct the book, before its next incarnation.

What a few weeks! 89%, and £264 raised in donations to hurricame relief

Friday, 13 October 2017

A crazy few weeks with the 'day job' (including the must-have IT issues when at most hectic, of course) but lovely silver linings have formed by hitting 89% funding, (including the backing of a writer I very much admire. Though of course, I madly love and admire every single person who has taken the trouble to back me. Heroes, every one of you. What's more the double your dough donations thing raised…

Video footage of dragons, and the double-your-dough-donations tally, so far

Thursday, 21 September 2017

Ok, not real dragons (because they exist, after all) but at least a dragon's den. Ok, not the real Dragon's Den, but a literary one at Waterstone's Gower Street, in which yours truly channelled all relevant experience of pitching/pleading/presenting/performing/prostrating-herself/pity-seeking and any other relevant 'p' words to get past that so-near-I-can-taste-the-prosecco finish line.

Caribbean needs your help (me, my characters and Mr Darwin will be good for a bit)

Saturday, 9 September 2017

Hello, been a bit distracted past few days with the horrors of hurricane #Irma, especally as I have a very close bond with the Virgin Islands (US and British). I am sure you have all seen the devastation, no need to elaborate on the suffering. (Several supporters here are from there and have family there, two are stranded there right now.) There are many help efforts being co-ordinated, please see…

Thursday, 31 August 2017

Sooo... two new pledges, Sapien Special and Word to the Wise mean that you get a #bespoke #poem in advance of your book-in-wating! Come on, surely you know someone who needs a handful of couplets? Can't sleep without a sonnet? Needs to feel the freedom of the open verse? And it's a flamin' bargain too! Here's an example that might shame many a proper poet, but which this poor rhyme peddlar is happy…

Can you tell a story in 75 words? (Paragraph Planet thinks so.)

Monday, 21 August 2017

Hello you lovely people... Don't worry, not asking for anything! Just wanted to share my 75 word story which featured on Paragraph Planet today (21/8/17). As it will be up for today only, and I am not sure when you will see this update, here is both the link, and the full paragraph copied in below. (Not that anyone as rational as us lot believe in good omens or anything, but I am loving that this…

She needs you ...

Friday, 18 August 2017

Help her get there... or to those who already have, please share with anyone else you can think of who loves a great #story with #kickasswomen doing a bit of #science and a lot of #survival and keeping that #human #DNA going, while also doing some #loving when they can, and trying to stay#courageous #curious #coolpeople in the meantime! Get those #booklovers on board to #preorder their #holidayreading…

Don't you know how magnificent you are? (Warning, video content. Of me.)

Saturday, 12 August 2017

Facebook buddies may have already seen this, but in case it's of interest (especially to those who like to see authors torturing themselves) here's a video of a 5 minute pitch for pre-orders of the book, filmed live at a pub in Peckham. (Well it's the very nice Beer Shop in Nunhead, actually, but I'm a sucker for alliteration, so I am stretching the geography.) Thanks to the other Unbound authors…

Thank heaven there is beer

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

Feeling very thankful - several lovely pledges this week and to be counted in the company of the amazing group that make up the Unbound author family (and it really does feel like a family.) And on Thursday night I get to push myself into a whole new world of abandoned pride with a pledge party in a Peckham pub (and I wasn't even trying for the evil that is alliteration. Though as evils go, it is…

Sorry, Sir Isaac (but at least the cat is named after you.)

Friday, 4 August 2017

...and he liked cats, apparently. More than people. Well, we are a bloody difficult, complex lot, eh? And yet extraordinary. Capable of so much, for good or bad. #Fiction #withabitofscience #butmostlystorytelling #withcharactersyoumightlike #onthehumanadventure #lifeisalwaysevolving #lovekeepsusgoing

Finding home...

Saturday, 29 July 2017

Finding home

What defines our elusive sense of coming home? My novel, Dear Mr Darwin, features a marathon journey in which the protagonist is seeking refuge far from her native terrain. She is, in essence, an exile, forcibly estranged from the familiar.

Often it is only in retrospect that a writer realises her characters have emerged not only from imagination, or hours of research, or the initial…

24 (thrilling) hours in in the world of crowdfunded publishing....

Sunday, 25 June 2017

Thanks so much for all the fantastic reactions and support for Dear Mr Darwin so far! It's been just over 24 hours since going live and it's all so very exciting and positive. This book, this labour of love, a piece of work that I have enjoyed every minute of creating, is written and ready and raring to go! (Bar, of course the highly valued editing, input, design, advice etc., from the lovely, lovely…

5 Copy Bundle

9 pledges

Denisovian

Are you part of a book club that might be interested? If so get 8 first edition paperback copies and have the author come to sign copies and talk about the themes that inspired the novel plus a choice of your names or your book club's name.